We had another early morning planned – this time to actually see Florence. And this time we actually woke up at a reasonable hour.

Our hostel had an all-you-can-eat breakfast for 5 euro which was a pretty good deal. I stuck to toast and yogurt, but it was nice to have a decent breakfast that could tide you over for a few hours instead of eating your first meal at 1PM.

Since it was Sunday we thought our options for sight-seeing would be pretty slim. We’d agreed earlier in the day not to do any of the museums because frankly, I wasn’t in the mood to stare at sculptures for hours on end. Since I really only had one full day in Florence, I wanted to experience the city, not the museums.

Off to the markets we went. Leather purses, wallets, belts, keychains, and more. Scarves, hats, clothes, basically anything you can think of. The stalls seemed to go on for ages.

I hadn’t really bought anything souvenir-wise during my trip so far. I think at the time my souvenirs consisted of a magnet and a post card. Florence definitely changed that.

By the end of our 3-4 hour excursion from our hostel, over the Ponte Vecchio, and back I managed to procure myself a new, much-needed wallet (Really, ask anyone. The coins jingling in my pocket get really annoying.), a new scarf (no, not the winter kind. I’ve sworn off winter scarves for at least 2 years as I recover from 4 years in Ithaca.), and some assorted souvenirs for various people at home.

I’m not used to bartering when buying things but it’s actually a lot of fun. I think I got some pretty good deals and I’m happy with my purchases. That’s all that matters, right? The more amusing part were the knock-off sellers. It’s illegal to buy or sell knockoffs in Italy, so these men walk around with cardboard boxes or sheets that can be easily gathered up and they basically move every 2-3 minutes when a police officer goes by and then they set up shop again – lining everything up and trying to make a sale. We obviously didn’t buy anything from them – just from the stall vendors. Bartering for 4 hours straight can be exhausting though!

We got back to the hostel just as the next round of BusAbouters arrived. Like our first night they were scheduled to go to the restaurant for a group dinner. We decided to go out on our own and then meet up with them later.

Backtracking a bit, we were in a 4-bed room which was great because it was 2 bunk beds – 3 of the beds in the room were twin, but one of them was a full. I managed to score that one which made me a very happy camper. The guy in the bed above me had lived in Florence for a few years at one point and recommended this restaurant that he claimed had the best spaghetti he’d ever had. Well those were the magic words. We set off to find that restaurant.

It was called Orvieto del Gatto e Volpe or the Cat and the Fox. It was down this windy road, left at that windy road, right at that statue and left at that other windy road. Or so it seemed. After doubling back a few times (and realzing that I’d earlier taken a picture of the street sign of the street that we’d been looking for) we found it and went in.

They make their own balsamic vinegar. Think of all of that watery balsamic vinegar you’ve consumed over the course of your life and then throw it out. This tasted nothing like it. This was so thick and rich and sweet. Combined with some amazingly green olive oil and some specially seasoned foccacia strips and you’ve pretty much reached cloud nine. And that was just the bread before the meal!

We ordered the house spaghetti and the house wine, like our roommate had suggested. This place has now made its way to the top of my list and has been awarded the coveted title of Best Spaghetti Ever. Not only was the food great, but we were in a proper Italian restaurant. It wasn’t a touristy place at all. It was well off the beaten path and even the door was hard to find. The portions were huuuggeee compared to what we’ve gotten in other places around Italy (pasta is just a “prima” here). We so wanted to get some sort of meat – the lemon chicken was piquing my interest, but about 1/2 way through the spaghetti we realized that we wouldn’t be able to fit another thing in our stomachs by the time we were done so luckily we didn’t order the chicken and ended our meal there.

That’s about it for the eventful part of Florence. The rest of the night consisted of going to a karaoke bar to meet up with the other BusAbouters and then going home and going to sleep. On the bus at 8AM and off to Nice.

Overall I really enjoyed Florence. Though I didn’t really do most of the obvious touristy things like go to the museums and cathedrals, I think I got a taste of what it’s really like to live in Florence – great food, great shopping and great character all around. Florence definitely makes it to my list of favorite cities.

BusAbout arranges some group dinners in each city where you can go and get a proper meal for a pretty decent price. This wasn’t offered in Rome, so when I heard about the Florence dinner I was intrigued, but after hearing the menu I decided to opt out. Alice mentioned that since it was a regular restaurant it might be possible to just order what we want off of the menu. She was right. Good call.

We both had the spaghetti pomodoro which was pretty good. A little too al dente in my opinion, but it was good enough. The portion wasn’t all that big, though, so we found ourselves still quite hungry. Since almost everyone else with us was getting the BusAbout 4-course meal we decided to venture outside to get some dessert or something. We’d passed a waffle and gelato stand on our way to the restaurant so we figured that’d be a good bet.

It was. So wonderful. Though it was far more expensive than we’d anticipated (dumb choice not to ask the price before ordering), it was worth every cent of that 9 euros. We sat on the steps of some church-type-building and indulged. Two belgian waffles sandwiching your gelato flavor of choice with hot nutella sauce poured over the top. Really, how can you resist?? I couldn’t.

So faces and hands entirely covered with nutella and gelato, we finished our waffles and decided to head back too the hostel – mostly because we really needed to wash our hands, but also because we’d planned to take a day trip to Siena the next morning and wanted to have an early night.

…the story continues after a brief day trip to Siena… read on